Kazakhstan Unrest: Recently a nationwide state of emergency has been declared in Kazakhstan by Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.

Key highlights:

• The state of emergency has been declared in the Central Asian nation's biggest city Almaty and in the western Mangistau province.
• The citizens of Kazakhstan are protesting against the sudden fuel price hike.
• The ruling government resigned due to the rising tensions.
• After the resignation of Kazakhstan's Prime Minister the President took over.
• He has created a security council to control the protest.
• Kazakhstan has sought help from its military allies, especially Russia.
• It has also sought the help of CSTO (Collective Security Treaty Organization).

Note: CSTO comprises Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, and Belarus.

Why was the emergency declared?

• The emergency was declared due to the protests by Kazakh citizens.
• The protestors have taken over the Almaty airport and the aircrafts.
• The local administrations and government officials were attacked in three cities. Internet services are disrupted.
• Protests triggered by a fuel price rise killed eight police and National Guard troops.
• Some of the security forces have also sided with the protestors.

Why did the citizens protest?

• The protests began when the ruling government of Kazakhstan lifted the price controls of Liquified Petroleum Gas because of which the prices quickly doubled.
• Earlier, the citizens had converted their vehicles to run on the LPG because of its low cost but when there was a sudden hike after the price control, this angered them.

The root cause of the Protests:

• Kazakhstan is a tightly controlled country which cultivates an image of political stability which helps in attracting hundreds of billions of dollars of foreign investment in its oil and metals industries over three decades of independence.
• However, its autocratic form of governance has raised international concerns.
• The political rifts between the ruling and opposition create the unrest because of which the authorities often crack down due to the internal protests.
• Oil is used as weapon to capture power.

About Kazakhstan:

• Kazakhstan, also spelled Kazakstan, officially Republic of Kazakhstan is a country of Central Asia.
• It is bounded on the northwest and north by Russia, on the east by China, and on the south by Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, the Aral Sea, and Turkmenistan; the Caspian Sea bounds Kazakhstan to the southwest.
• It is the world's largest landlocked country, and the eighth-largest country in the world.
• The capital of Kazakhstan is Nur-Sultan, formerly known as Astana.
• The currency used here is Kazakhstani tenge (KZT).
• The current president of Kazakhstan is Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.